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everywhere covered with forests of oak, pine, hickory, walnut, maple, beach, 
chestnut, and other trees; and, in a word, the traveller nowhere perhaps in the 
United States sees so much forest as in North Carolina. The productions of 
the middle region are Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, barley, Irish and 
sweet potatoes, apples, peaches, pears, grapes of several indigenous varieties, 
tobacco of the best quality in the northern tier of counties, and cotton in all 
south of them, besides garden products of every kind, and many other articles. 
This midland region also has valuable mines of gold, coal, iron, and copper; and 
no part of the world is more blessed with health. The water everywhere 
gushes pure and perennial from the earth, in all this upland region, and a major- 
ity of the inhabitants drink it from springs, without being under the necessity 
of digging wells. The country is at the same time beautiful, and abounds in 
groves of white oak which are scarcely equalled in picturesque effect by any on 
the continent. The soil is generally good, though not equal to that of the Mis- 
sissippi valley; but it amply rewards the labors of the husbandman. The 
climate is a delightful mean between the extremes of cold and heat north and 
south; and, on the whole, there is no part of the world in which a virtuous, in- 
telligent, and free people may enjoy greater happiness, or more uninterrupted 
prosperity, than in the middle region of North Carolina. 
The following meteorological observations, for a series of years, made at the 
university situated at Chapel Hill, near the centre of the State, will convey a 
general idea of the climate. We find the statement in the North Carolina 
Advertiser of a recent date: 
«Tn 1850-51, (counting from June to June,) the annual thermometrical mean 
(the result of three daily observations) was 60.40 degrees. The hottest day was 
July 1, 1850—the mean temperature being 85 degrees ; and the coldest, Feb- 
ruary 5, 1851—the mean being 23.625. ‘The first frost fell on the 21st day of 
October. The peach flowered February 28; cherry, quince, and apple, March 15. 
“In 1851-52 the annual thermometrical mean was 58.50 degrees. Hottest 
day, July 27, 1851, with a mean temperature of 89.5; and coldest, January 20, 
1852, with the extraordinary mean for this latitude of 12.25. First frost, 
October 24. Peach, cherry, apple, and pear bloomed March 1, 6, 12, and 15, 
respectively. 
“For 1852-’53 the annual mean was 59.15 degrees. Hottest day, June 17, 
1852, with thermometrical mean of 83.75; coldest, March 5, 1853, mean 26.5. 
First frost, October 16. Peach, pear, apple, and cherry flowered on March 1, 
19, 26, and 29—the peach, this year, of course, being materially injured. Asa 
general rule, the fruit crops in this region, however, are not by any means pre- 
carious. 
« For 1854-55 the annual mean was 59.87. The coldest day was February 
28, 1855, the mean being 25 degrees, and the hottest July 5, 1854, with a mean 
of 89 degrees. First frost fell October 16. Plum, cherry, and apple flowered 
respectively on April 1, 2, and 10.” 
The western zone of North Carolina embraces the mountain region from the 
eastern foot of the Blue Ridge to the Tennessee line. It consists of a succession 
of high ridges and valleys, some of the former running into peaks six thousand 
feet above the sea level; and one of them, the Black Mountain, rising to the 
height of nearly seven thousand feet, or higher than any point on the continent 
east of the Rocky mountains. The average level of the valleys and lower 
plains in this region is quite two thousand feet above the sea. Approaching the 
mountains from the east, the ascent is very abrupt; and one-half of the ascent, 
measured from the ocean to the top of the Blue Ridge, is encountered in the last 
six miles. On the west, the descent is very gentle; and a railroad from the 
west could be carried to the summits of the gaps without the necessity of tun- 
nelling. Almost every foot of ground in the mountain region can be made use- 
ful to man, for purposes of cultivation or grazing; and it is destined, doubtless, 
